FX announced it renewed new drama The Americans after the ratings for the fourth episode came in and showed growth over the third episode (and were on par with the second episode, see below). Reasonable people can debate whether the timing of the announcement was merely coincidental, but there’s no debating that ratings for the fourth episode improved slightly over the third episode, and there’s no debating that it has been renewed for a second season.

Ratings for the first four episodes of The Americans:

Date

Live+SD 18-49 Rtg

Live+SD Viewers

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

1.2

3.22

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

0.8

1.97

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

0.7

1.65

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

0.8

1.91

There’s now another correct response to the “Shows that have changed networks” trivia question. Tyler Perry’s “For Better or Worse” will get a 3rd season, but it will be leaving TBS and moving to OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). OWN will also get the rights to the 45 episodes from the first two seasons. Look for season 3 to debut in the fall.

Notes:

Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Last Updated February 23, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).

—

Show

Network

Current / Last Season

Status

Breakout Kings

A&E

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Glades, The

A&E

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Longmire

A&E

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Baby Daddy

ABCFAM

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Bunheads

ABCFAM

1

Jane by Design

ABCFAM

1

Cancelled after 1st season

Lying Game, The

ABCFAM

2

Melissa & Joey

ABCFAM

2

Renewed for a 3rd season

Pretty Little Liars

ABCFAM

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFAM

5

Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last

Switched at Birth

ABCFAM

2

Breaking Bad

AMC

5

Ending after 5th season

Hell on Wheels

AMC

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Mad Men

AMC

5

Renewed for a 6th season

The Killing

AMC

2

Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season

The Walking Dead

AMC

3

Renewed for a 4th Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Bedlam

BBCA

2

Being Human

BBCA

5

Ending after 5th season

Copper

BBCA

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Doctor Who

BBCA

7

7th Season Resumes March 30th, 2013

Luther

BBCA

2

Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season

The Hour

BBCA

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Ripper Street

BBCA

1

Renewed for an 8 episode 2nd season

tvbythenumbers.com

Game, The

BET

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Let’s Stay Together

BET

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Real Husbands of Hollywood

BET

1

Reed Between the Lines

BET

1

Renewed for a 2nd Season

Second Generation Wayans

BET

1

tvbythenumbers.com

Futurama

CMDY

7

Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013

South Park

CMDY

16

Renewed through 20th season (2016)

Workaholics

CMDY

3

Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons

tvbythenumbers.com

American Horror Story

FX

2

Renewed for a 13 hour third season

Americans, The

FX

1

Renewed for a 13 episode 2nd season

Anger Management

FX

2

Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season

Archer

FX

4

It’s Always Sunny…

FX

8

Renewedfor a 9th season

Justified

FX

4

League, The

FX

4

Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season

Legit

FX

1

Louie

FX

3

Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014

Sons of Anarchy

FX

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Unsupervised

FX

1

Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton

Wilfred

FX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Boardwalk Empire

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Bored to Death

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HBO

8

Unknown. “It’s always up to Larry,” says HBO

Eastbound & Down

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Enlightened

HBO

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Girls

HBO

2

Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season

How to Make it in America

HBO

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Hung

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Newsroom

HBO

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Treme

HBO

3

Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season

True Blood

HBO

5

Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season

Veep

HBO

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Bullet in the Face

IFC

1

Portlandia

IFC

3

Todd Margaret

IFC

2

Ended after 2nd season

Army Wives

LIFE

6

Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season

Client List, The

LIFE

1

Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season

Drop Dead Diva

LIFE

4

Canceled after 4th season, Then Un-cancelled and renewed for a 5th season!

tvbythenumbers.com

Banshee

MAX

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Hunted

MAX

1

BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options.

Strike Back

MAX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Awkward

MTV

2

Renewed for 20 episode 3rd season

Beavis and Butt-Head

MTV

The Inbetweeners

MTV

1

canceled after 1st season

Teen Wolf

MTV

2

Renewed for 24 episode 3rd season

Underemployed

MTV

1

Californication

SHO

6

Renewed for a 7th Season

Dexter

SHO

7

Renewed for an 8th (and presumed final) Season

Episodes

SHO

2

Renewed for a 3rd season, But Probably Not Returning until early 2014

Homeland

SHO

2

Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season

House of Lies

SHO

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Nurse Jackie

SHO

4

Renewed for a 5th season

Shameless

SHO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

The Big C

SHO

3

Renewed for a 4th and final season

The Borgias

SHO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Web Therapy

SHO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Weeds

SHO

8

Series concluded after 8th season

Alphas

SYFY

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Being Human

SYFY

3

Continuum

SYFY

1

Already renewed for a 2nd season in Canada

Eureka

SYFY

5

Canceled After 5th Season

Haven

SYFY

3

Renewed for a 13 episode 4th season

Lost Girl

SYFY

3

Merlin

SYFY

5

Ending after 5th season

Sanctuary

SYFY

4

Cancelled after 4th season

Warehouse 13

SYFY

4

S4 expanded to 20 episodes (half have aired)

Boss

STARZ

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Magic City

STARZ

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Spartacus

STARZ

4

Renewed for a 4th and final season

Cougar Town

TBS

4

Men at Work

TBS

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Sullivan & Son

TBS

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Tyler Perrys: For Better or Worse

TBS

2

Renewed for a 3rd season by, and moving to OWN. S3 debuts in Fall of 2013

Fortunately, live viewing isn’t the only — or even most important — audience measurement anymore, and the second episode [of The Americans] shot way back up when DVR viewing was added in. (Advertisers will pay for the first three days of DVR viewing.)

I’m rooting for FX’s The Americansto succeed, but that doesn’t mean much. Like Alan Sepinwall, I was a fan of Terriers and Lights Out, and as Sepinwall notes in his post, The Americans is off to a much better start than either of those two shows. Even though the third episode of The Americansfell a little from its second episode (which was way down from its first), the third episode of The Americanswas still ahead of where Lights Out premiered (a 0.6 adults 18-49 rating and ~1.5 million viewers).

I take issue with the notion that live viewing isn’t the most important audience measurement for FX. But these are the complexities of ratings and talking about them and since not much went on this week (BBC canceled ‘The Hour’) this will be variation of “Numbers 101” posts of yore.

Indeed, the single most important ratings measure for FX are the C3 ratings. Those represent the average commercial viewing live plus three days of DVR viewing. All of the numbers we (and everyone else) regularly see and report are not commercial viewing, butprogramratings. Program ratings measure the whole program including the commercials. The commercial ratings only measure the commercials. So, if you’re in a Nielsen household and watch The Americanson your DVR and you skip every single commercial, you will still show up in the ratings as ~.66 of a viewer in the program ratings. In fact, you’ll show up as much more than that since the way the Nielsen panel works, were you in it, you would represent thousands of viewers.

But here’s the important thing, were you that viewer in a Nielsen household who watched The Americans on DVR skipping every commercial but still counting as .66 of a viewer (that would project out to ~4,000 viewers) in the program ratings, you wouldn’t count for anythingin the commercial ratings. Squadoosh! Nada, zilch, zip, zed, etc. Now, fortunately for the TV networks even though us DVR viewers say things like “I always skip the commercials!” we don’t in fact always skip them. Sure, we skip most of the commercials most of the time, but we do not skip all of the commercials all of the time. So, were you in a Nielsen household watching The Americans two days later and purposefully or accidentally taking in a few of the commercials, that viewing would get added into the C3 ratings. For the networks, it’s not optimal, but still better than nothing.

But know this, unlike their program rating counterparts, the C3 ratings don’t “shoot up” with three days of viewing added in. Sure, they do go up, but they do not shoot up in the skyrocket fashion of the program ratings for the simple reason that most DVR viewers do skip most of the commercials most of the time.

What’s a Program Rating?

As noted above, a program rating measures viewing for the period a program was on (whether that be 15, 30, 60, 90, etc.) minutes, including any commercial viewing. There are a variety of program ratings, some of which you’re very familiar with:

Live ratings

The live program ratings are exactly what you’d expect them to be – live ratings for the program period (again, including commercials). Though live program ratings aren’t nearly as unavailable as the C3 commercial ratings, we don’t usually see them or post them. But people who work in TV see live program ratings regularly, particularly for broadcast network shows.

Live+SD (L+SD, LSD, LS = Live plus same day DVR) ratings

These are the live program ratings plus any DVR viewing the same night (up until 3am the following morning. So were you in a Nielsen household and watching Wednesday night’s The Americans at midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning on DVR, your viewing up to 3am would count.

Live+3 (L+3, L3) ratings

Over the last few years, our friendly PR folks have begun using this metric more frequently. It’s the live program viewing with 3 days of DVR viewing included. The reason this metric has become more used is for reasons of Nielsen processing – they can get the Live+3 data much quicker than the Live+7 data (the Live+7 data is typically a weekly run, and it works out that by the time those numbers are available, the last day of the measured week was nearly 2 weeks ago, and the first day of the measured week nearly 3 weeks ago).

Live+7 (L+7, L7) ratings

These are the live program ratings with a full week of DVR viewing factored in. Popular if for no other reason than whatever numbers are reported this one will be the biggest!

None of the program ratings are COMMERCIAL ratings, but which program ratings are the best proxy?

Some people will say “well, since the commercial ratings include 3 days of DVR, the best proxy for the commercial ratings would be the Live+3 program ratings!” Those people would be right if commercial ratings and program ratings measured the same thing, but they don’t, and they aren’t the best proxy of them.

Of the program ratings, the best proxy for commercial ratings plus 3 days is actually the LIVE viewing with no commercial viewing factored in. And I’m not saying that makes it necessarily a good proxy, just the best one of the program ratings. Sadly, for cable shows, we can’t easily get our hands on Live program ratings even if we wanted to. The live COMMERCIAL ratings which are pretty much never seen in the wild or the Live+SD COMMERCIAL ratings would make the best proxy for the C3 commercial ratings, but alas, nobody sees those. Good news though – C3 numbers are so rarely available in the wild that they’re not worth sweating over either!

Because Relative Ratings Matter, Live+SD Program Ratings Are A Great Proxy of How a Show Is Doing

How a show is doing is generally measured in terms of how other shows on that network do. But because cable networks generally air so much less original programming than their broadcast cousins, relative ratings alone don’t always tell the tale, it’s still easy to predict at the extremes (nobody spends any time wondering if The Walking Dead or Sons of Anarchy and are going to get renewed, at least around here, and we talked in about a renewal for Terriers with terms like “Miracle.”), but shows that toil in the middle of those extremes (and The Americans is setting up to do just that) frequently can’t be reliably predicted, so we don’t.

But what is the most important audience measure?

For advertising supported networks like FX, the C3 ratings which are almost never seen are the most important. That’s how they get paid. While the Live+SD ratings might not be an excellent proxy for the commercial ratings, they are still a darn good proxy for relative comparisons. Almost none of us have ever seen the C3 ratings for Sons of Anarchy or Justified, but you can comfortably know that the C3 ratings for SOA are higher than the C3 ratings for Justifiedwhich are higher than the C3 ratings for The Americans which are higher (at least currently) than the C3 ratings for Anger Management.

Though it is unseen by us, the live program ratings for advertising supported networks are still very, very important (and I’d argue most important) because most (overwhelmingly) commercial viewing comes from live viewing.

It’s easier to be HBO than USA, FX, TNT, etc.

Live viewing of the premiere telecast doesn’t matter much (it could be argued it doesn’t matter at all) to HBO since they don’t sell commercial spots. What matters to HBO is happy subscribers and more of them. The truth is you can still tell what the most popular HBO shows are from how the premiere telecasts fare, but it’s pretty typical for HBO that most of the viewing of a show does not happen in the premiere telecast. So, even though the premiere telecast of a new episode of Games or Thrones might have the single largest aggregate audience, it could be that 70% of the viewing for that episode happens via DVR, encores, on-demand/HBO Go. And guess what, HBO is perfectly content with that!

It’s much, much rougher on the advertising supported networks if it plays out like that. If 70% of the viewing of Suits isn’t live, that’s much worse for USA than HBO. HBO doesn’t care because it still adds up to happy customers. In this completely made up example*, USA can (and would!) celebrate the overall popularity of the show, but internally they wouldn’t be nearly as joyous as the folks at HBO because effectively that means “Hey, we have this show viewers love, but we can’t monetize most of the viewing.” Not a fun place to be.

* in actuality, and in round numbers, based on eyeballing it has been more the case that USA’s shows have 60+% of their viewing happen Live+SD (we don’t see the pure live ratings) and while shows like White Collar can frequently see 75% jumps in ratings from the L+SD numbers to L+7, that still means ~60% of the viewing was L+SD. Made up example: let’s say Suits had 1.5 million viewers adults 18-49 in the Live+SD ratings that jumped to 2.6 million in the L+7 – that’s a 73% jump, but one that means that most of the viewing, 58% in this case, was still L+SD (1.5/2.6).

What about On Demand, Internet, iTunes, etc?

Nielsen has made strides to include any commercial viewing on demand or online within three days so long as the same national commercial ads that ran in the original telecast are included. Remember, the Nielsen TV ratings aren’t attempting to measure the overall popularity of a show, their primary purpose for advertiser supported shows is to measure the number of people who watched the commercials. So while something like iTunes does get counted somewhere, because it has no commercials, it isn’t counted in the Nielsen TV ratings, nor should it be.

There’s always a fair bit of squawking about the need for better measurement from TV executives, and a fair bit of those complaints are reasonable. But it should be noted there’s always a relative dearth of any such complaints from the advertisers. Measurement can always be improved, but I’ve thought for quite a while that mostly the squawking about it from executives at TV networks is usually a slight-of-hand distraction technique from other realities.

One of those realities, and a cumbersome and annoying one for the advertising supported TV nets is that at this point, TV networks can’t easily monetize a lot of their viewers. Even if it’s not “most of the viewers” that they can’t easily monetize, it’s often still a significant chunk of them. Another reality appears to be that for all the squawking over measurement, advertisers really don’t want to pay as much for ads that don’t run on TV. My best guess at this point is that the reason that most of the stuff I watch on demand within three days still doesn’t have full commercial loads isn’t because it can’t be measured, but because advertisers don’t want to pay for it the same way as TV even if it can be measured.

It’s easier (and I’d argue better) for the TV executives to complain publicly about Nielsen who the TV networks pay, rather than the advertisers, who pay the TV networks!

All hope is not lost, though It’ll probably get uglier before it gets prettier (if it ever does)

While the fictional situation I outlined above where an advertising supported network has shows where most of the viewing can’t be monetized, is fictional, it’s definitely true that there are a lot of viewers who can’t be monetized. This is a problem for the networks. But that fictional example has a silver lining, at least in theory. If you have a bunch of hugely popular shows, even if you can’t monetize a lot of the viewing via advertising, the more popular shows you have, in theory, the more you can obtain in carriage fees (the amount DirecTV, Comcast, Time Warner etc. pay the networks per subscriber to carry the network).

But that’s a big pile of money all the networks are vying for and there are many complexities – e.g. Comcast owns several networks so USA isn’t vying for those carriage dollars in a vacuum since Comcast wants all of their networks (Bravo, Syfy, etc) carried, not just some of them.

Notes:

Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Last Updated February 16, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).

—

Show

Network

Current / Last Season

Status

Breakout Kings

A&E

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Glades, The

A&E

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Longmire

A&E

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Baby Daddy

ABCFAM

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Bunheads

ABCFAM

1

Jane by Design

ABCFAM

1

Cancelled after 1st season

Lying Game, The

ABCFAM

2

Melissa & Joey

ABCFAM

2

Renewed for a 3rd season

Pretty Little Liars

ABCFAM

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFAM

5

Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last

Switched at Birth

ABCFAM

2

Breaking Bad

AMC

5

Ending after 5th season

Hell on Wheels

AMC

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Mad Men

AMC

5

Renewed for a 6th season

The Killing

AMC

2

Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season

The Walking Dead

AMC

3

Renewed for a 4th Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Bedlam

BBCA

2

Being Human

BBCA

4

Renewed for a 6 Episode 5th Season

Copper

BBCA

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Doctor Who

BBCA

7

7th Season Resumes March 30th, 2013

Luther

BBCA

2

Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season

The Hour

BBCA

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Ripper Street

BBCA

1

Renewed for an 8 episode 2nd season

tvbythenumbers.com

Game, The

BET

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Let’s Stay Together

BET

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Real Husbands of Hollywood

BET

1

Reed Between the Lines

BET

1

Renewed for a 2nd Season

Second Generation Wayans

BET

1

tvbythenumbers.com

Futurama

CMDY

7

Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013

Kroll Show

CMDY

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

South Park

CMDY

16

Renewed through 20th season (2016)

Workaholics

CMDY

3

Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons

tvbythenumbers.com

American Horror Story

FX

2

Renewed for a 13 hour third season

Americans, The

FX

1

Anger Management

FX

2

Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season

Archer

FX

4

It’s Always Sunny…

FX

8

Renewedfor a 9th season

Justified

FX

4

League, The

FX

4

Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season

Legit

FX

1

Louie

FX

3

Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014

Sons of Anarchy

FX

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Unsupervised

FX

1

Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton

Wilfred

FX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Boardwalk Empire

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Bored to Death

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HBO

8

Unknown. “It’s always up to Larry,” says HBO

Eastbound & Down

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Enlightened

HBO

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Girls

HBO

2

Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season

How to Make it in America

HBO

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Hung

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Newsroom

HBO

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Treme

HBO

3

Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season

True Blood

HBO

5

Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season

Veep

HBO

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Bullet in the Face

IFC

1

Portlandia

IFC

3

Todd Margaret

IFC

2

Ended after 2nd season

Army Wives

LIFE

6

Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season

Client List, The

LIFE

1

Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season

Drop Dead Diva

LIFE

4

Canceled after 4th season

tvbythenumbers.com

Banshee

MAX

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Hunted

MAX

1

BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options.

David E. Kelly’s Monday Morningspremiered last Monday, but hardly anyone seemed to notice. While this list doesn’t make predictions, it’s never a good sign when you premiere to a 0.3 rating with adults 18-49 rating at 10pm when the 10am repeat of Supernaturaldrew a 0.4.

The BBC announced it was ending the British version (not to be confused with the U.S. adaptation airing on Syfy) of Being Humanafter the current (in the UK) six episode fifth season. The fifth season hasn’t begun yet on BBC America, which is what’s being tracked below.

Southland’s fifth season premieres Wednesday, February 13 –I’ve updated its status below as if it had already premiered.

Notes:

Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Last Updated February 8, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).

—

Show

Network

Current / Last Season

Status

Breakout Kings

A&E

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Glades, The

A&E

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Longmire

A&E

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Baby Daddy

ABCFAM

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Bunheads

ABCFAM

1

Jane by Design

ABCFAM

1

Cancelled after 1st season

Lying Game, The

ABCFAM

2

Melissa & Joey

ABCFAM

2

Renewed for a 3rd season

Pretty Little Liars

ABCFAM

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFAM

5

Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last

Switched at Birth

ABCFAM

2

Breaking Bad

AMC

5

Ending after 5th season

Hell on Wheels

AMC

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Mad Men

AMC

5

Renewed for a 6th season

The Killing

AMC

2

Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season

The Walking Dead

AMC

3

Renewed for a 4th Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Bedlam

BBCA

2

Being Human

BBCA

4

Renewed for a 6 Episode 5th Season

Copper

BBCA

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Doctor Who

BBCA

7

7th Season Resumes March 30th, 2013

Luther

BBCA

2

Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season

The Hour

BBCA

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Ripper Street

BBCA

1

Renewed for an 8 episode 2nd season

tvbythenumbers.com

Game, The

BET

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Let’s Stay Together

BET

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Real Husbands of Hollywood

BET

1

Reed Between the Lines

BET

1

Renewed for a 2nd Season

Second Generation Wayans

BET

1

tvbythenumbers.com

Futurama

CMDY

7

Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013

Kroll Show

CMDY

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

South Park

CMDY

16

Renewed through 20th season (2016)

Workaholics

CMDY

3

Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons

tvbythenumbers.com

American Horror Story

FX

2

Renewed for a 13 hour third season

Americans, The

FX

1

Anger Management

FX

2

Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season

Archer

FX

4

It’s Always Sunny…

FX

8

Renewedfor a 9th season

Justified

FX

4

League, The

FX

4

Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season

Legit

FX

1

Louie

FX

3

Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014

Sons of Anarchy

FX

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Unsupervised

FX

1

Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton

Wilfred

FX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Boardwalk Empire

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Bored to Death

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HBO

8

Unknown. “It’s always up to Larry,” says HBO

Eastbound & Down

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Enlightened

HBO

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Girls

HBO

2

Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season

How to Make it in America

HBO

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Hung

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Newsroom

HBO

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Treme

HBO

3

Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season

True Blood

HBO

5

Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season

Veep

HBO

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Bullet in the Face

IFC

1

Portlandia

IFC

3

Todd Margaret

IFC

2

Ended after 2nd season

Army Wives

LIFE

6

Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season

Client List, The

LIFE

1

Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season

Drop Dead Diva

LIFE

4

Canceled after 4th season

tvbythenumbers.com

Banshee

MAX

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Hunted

MAX

1

BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options.

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Last Updated February 7, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).

—

Show

Network

Current / Last Season

Status

Breakout Kings

A&E

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Glades, The

A&E

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Longmire

A&E

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Baby Daddy

ABCFAM

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Bunheads

ABCFAM

1

Jane by Design

ABCFAM

1

Cancelled after 1st season

Lying Game, The

ABCFAM

2

Melissa & Joey

ABCFAM

2

Renewed for a 3rd season

Pretty Little Liars

ABCFAM

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFAM

5

Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last

Switched at Birth

ABCFAM

2

Breaking Bad

AMC

5

Ending after 5th season

Hell on Wheels

AMC

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Mad Men

AMC

5

Renewed for a 6th season

The Killing

AMC

2

Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season

The Walking Dead

AMC

3

Renewed for a 4th Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Bedlam

BBCA

2

Being Human

BBCA

4

Renewed for a final 6 Episode 5th Season

Copper

BBCA

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Doctor Who

BBCA

7

7th Season Resumes March 30th, 2013

Luther

BBCA

2

Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season

The Hour

BBCA

2

Ripper Street

BBCA

1

Renewed for an 8 episode 2nd season

tvbythenumbers.com

Game, The

BET

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Let’s Stay Together

BET

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Real Husbands of Hollywood

BET

1

Reed Between the Lines

BET

1

Renewed for a 2nd Season

Second Generation Wayans

BET

1

tvbythenumbers.com

Futurama

CMDY

7

Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013

Kroll Show

CMDY

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

South Park

CMDY

16

Renewed through 20th season (2016)

Workaholics

CMDY

3

Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons

tvbythenumbers.com

American Horror Story

FX

2

Renewed for a 13 hour third season

Americans, The

FX

1

Anger Management

FX

2

Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season

Archer

FX

4

It’s Always Sunny…

FX

8

Renewedfor a 9th season

Justified

FX

4

League, The

FX

4

Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season

Legit

FX

1

Louie

FX

3

Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014

Sons of Anarchy

FX

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Unsupervised

FX

1

Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton

Wilfred

FX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Boardwalk Empire

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Bored to Death

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HBO

8

Unknown. “It’s always up to Larry,” says HBO

Eastbound & Down

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Enlightened

HBO

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Girls

HBO

2

Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season

How to Make it in America

HBO

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Hung

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Newsroom

HBO

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Treme

HBO

3

Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season

True Blood

HBO

5

Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season

Veep

HBO

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Bullet in the Face

IFC

1

Portlandia

IFC

3

Todd Margaret

IFC

2

Ended after 2nd season

Army Wives

LIFE

6

Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season

Client List, The

LIFE

1

Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season

Drop Dead Diva

LIFE

4

Canceled after 4th season

tvbythenumbers.com

Banshee

MAX

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Hunted

MAX

1

BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options.

Remember not so long ago when many were lamenting how long it was taking for the fates of Leverage, Alphas, and Drop Dead Diva? At least as far as status updates went, those were the good old days. We’ve now moved on to the more snooze-worthy (Zzzzzzzzzzzz) dog days of winter. Yeah, I know dog days are for summer, and it’s winter and it’s like 20 degrees at midday in New York City today. But, it’s summer in the southern hemisphere so hello to our readers from Australia and Argentina! None of that makes this update any more interesting, but still…

HBO officially renewed Girlsfor a 12 episode 3rd season and TBS canceled The Wedding Band after its freshman season. That’s pretty much a wrap on the changes for this week. Starz’ Spartacusreturned on Friday for its final season so its status has been updated. I’ve also changed Dallasto reflect that it’s in its second season, even though that’s a couple of days away and gone ahead and added FX’s The Americans to the list even though it doesn’t premiere until Wednesday. Just playing it safe in case with the Super Bowl coming up next week I decide to punt on a new post next weekend and merely update this one.

Notes:

Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Last Updated January 26, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).

—

Show

Network

Current / Last Season

Status

Breakout Kings

A&E

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Glades, The

A&E

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Longmire

A&E

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Baby Daddy

ABCFAM

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Bunheads

ABCFAM

1

Jane by Design

ABCFAM

1

Cancelled after 1st season

Lying Game, The

ABCFAM

2

Melissa & Joey

ABCFAM

2

Renewed for a 3rd season

Pretty Little Liars

ABCFAM

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFAM

5

Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last

Switched at Birth

ABCFAM

2

Breaking Bad

AMC

5

Ending after 5th season

Hell on Wheels

AMC

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Mad Men

AMC

5

Renewed for a 6th season

The Killing

AMC

2

Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season

The Walking Dead

AMC

3

Renewed for a 4th Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Bedlam

BBCA

2

Being Human

BBCA

4

Renewed for a 6 Episode 5th Season

Copper

BBCA

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Doctor Who

BBCA

7

7th Season Resumes March 30th, 2013

Luther

BBCA

2

Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season

The Hour

BBCA

2

Ripper Street

BBCA

1

tvbythenumbers.com

Game, The

BET

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Let’s Stay Together

BET

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Real Husbands of Hollywood

BET

1

Reed Between the Lines

BET

1

Renewed for a 2nd Season

Second Generation Wayans

BET

1

tvbythenumbers.com

Futurama

CMDY

7

Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013

Kroll Show

CMDY

1

South Park

CMDY

16

Renewed through 20th season (2016)

Workaholics

CMDY

3

Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons

tvbythenumbers.com

American Horror Story

FX

2

Renewed for a 13 hour third season

Americans, The

FX

1

Anger Management

FX

2

Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season

Archer

FX

4

It’s Always Sunny…

FX

8

Renewedfor a 9th season

Justified

FX

4

League, The

FX

4

Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season

Legit

FX

1

Louie

FX

3

Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014

Sons of Anarchy

FX

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Unsupervised

FX

1

Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton

Wilfred

FX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Boardwalk Empire

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Bored to Death

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HBO

8

Unknown. “It’s always up to Larry,” says HBO

Eastbound & Down

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Enlightened

HBO

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Girls

HBO

2

Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season

How to Make it in America

HBO

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Hung

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Newsroom

HBO

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Treme

HBO

3

Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season

True Blood

HBO

5

Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season

Veep

HBO

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Bullet in the Face

IFC

1

Portlandia

IFC

3

Todd Margaret

IFC

2

Ended after 2nd season

Army Wives

LIFE

6

Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season

Client List, The

LIFE

1

Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season

Drop Dead Diva

LIFE

4

Canceled after 4th season

tvbythenumbers.com

Banshee

MAX

1

Hunted

MAX

1

BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options.

With the fates of Leverage, Drop Dead Diva and Alphasall finally decided (all three were cancelled) at least for a while we are out of “how come they haven’t decided yet!?” territory. So for a while I expect it will be comments and e-mails like “You’ve still got Suitsas being in its second season, but it just came back!” and “%$*^ why is ‘Sanctuarystill on your list!” and “How dare BBC AMERICA claim Doctor Who as its own/how dare Syfy claim Continuumas its own!”

It’s true shows like Bunheadsand Suitsare “back” after being off for a while, but they are back for continuations/conclusions of the same season (in the case of Bunheads, its first and in the case of Suits, its second).

Yep, Sanctuaryis still on the list! I don’t know how long it will be before a I delete it. I don’t see the harm in more info, and since I’m the one maintaining the list… But spread the complaining love around please. Nobody ever complains “%$*^ why is Hungstill on your list!” and it’s been gone as long as Sanctuary.

BBC America and Syfy can claim those shows because they licensed the U.S. rights. This list focuses on networks in the United States because that’s what makes the most sense for us, but we still love our UK and Canadian readers.

Changes This Week:

There were several season or series premieres this week and those shows have either been slightly updated or added to the list.

Notes:

Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Yes, I know there will be a Doctor Whostill has the remainder of season 7 to air and that there will be an anniversary episode, but as far as an 8th season goes, there’s still no official announcement.

Last Updated January 22, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).

—

Show

Network

Current / Last Season

Status

Breakout Kings

A&E

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Glades, The

A&E

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Longmire

A&E

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Baby Daddy

ABCFAM

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Bunheads

ABCFAM

1

Jane by Design

ABCFAM

1

Cancelled after 1st season

Lying Game, The

ABCFAM

2

Melissa & Joey

ABCFAM

2

Renewed for a 3rd season

Pretty Little Liars

ABCFAM

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFAM

5

Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last

Switched at Birth

ABCFAM

2

Breaking Bad

AMC

5

Ending after 5th season

Hell on Wheels

AMC

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Mad Men

AMC

5

Renewed for a 6th season

The Killing

AMC

2

Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season

The Walking Dead

AMC

3

Renewed for a 4th Season

Bedlam

BBCA

2

Being Human

BBCA

4

Renewed for a 6 Episode 5th Season

Copper

BBCA

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Doctor Who

BBCA

7

Luther

BBCA

2

Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season

The Hour

BBCA

2

tvbythenumbers.com

Game, The

BET

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Let’s Stay Together

BET

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

Real Husbands of Hollywood

BET

1

Reed Between the Lines

BET

1

Renewed for a 2nd Season

Second Generation Wayans

BET

1

Futurama

CMDY

7

Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013

Kroll Show

CMDY

1

South Park

CMDY

16

Renewed through 20th season (2016)

Workaholics

CMDY

3

Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons

American Horror Story

FX

2

Renewed for a 13 hour third season

Anger Management

FX

2

Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season

Archer

FX

4

It’s Always Sunny…

FX

8

Renewedfor a 9th season

Justified

FX

4

League, The

FX

4

Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season

Legit

FX

1

Louie

FX

3

Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014

Sons of Anarchy

FX

5

Renewed for a 6th season

Unsupervised

FX

1

Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton

Wilfred

FX

2

Renewed for a 3rd Season

tvbythenumbers.com

Boardwalk Empire

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Bored to Death

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Curb Your Enthusiasm

HBO

8

Unknown. “It’s always up to Larry,” says HBO

Eastbound & Down

HBO

3

Renewed for a 4th season

Enlightened

HBO

2

Game of Thrones

HBO

2

Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season

Girls

HBO

2

How to Make it in America

HBO

2

Canceled after 2nd season

Hung

HBO

3

Canceled after 3rd season

Newsroom

HBO

1

Renewed for a 2nd season

Treme

HBO

3

Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season

True Blood

HBO

5

Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season

Veep

HBO

1

Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season

Bullet in the Face

IFC

1

Portlandia

IFC

3

Todd Margaret

IFC

2

Ended after 2nd season

Army Wives

LIFE

6

Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season

Client List, The

LIFE

1

Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season

Drop Dead Diva

LIFE

4

Canceled after 4th season

tvbythenumbers.com

Banshee

MAX

1

Hunted

MAX

1

BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options.

Though it looked like we would hear something on the fate of Alphasby the time this was posted, looks were deceiving. UpdateJanuary 16: Alphashas been cancelled.

As of this writing The Killingis also still not officially resurrected for a third season despite any reports to the contrary that you may have read. But the production team has been mobilizing in preparation for an official pick-up from AMC. I’d hoped we might here something officially official (whether a renewal announcement or an official denial of it) at the TCA press tour rather the same old speculation about AMC and Netflix co-financing a third season, but not so far.Update January 15: It’s official: The Killing is back for a third season of 12 episodes.

Unsurprisingly, Leverageproducer Dean Devlin is still shopping around in hopes of finding a new home for the show and wouldn’t be opposed to doing a featured film version of the show. That is pretty standard post-cancellation talk. Less common: Leveragedid win the favorite cable drama in this year’s People’s Choice awards, the first time that’s happened with a cable show according to Deadline.

Changes This Week:

I’d already added the December batch of renewals to the last update, so there’s nothing new on that score though the officially official renewal announcement for USA’s Necessary Roughnesscame out earlier in the week.

I tried to get all the changes to “current/last” season straightened out for the crop of shows that have begun airing again. Though tomorrow (Sunday 1/13) season premieres of the HBO & Showtime shows hasn’t happened yet as of this writing, I updated their statuses as if they had.

If I missed anything and you find errors or omissions (excluding unscripted shows, kids shows or shows that have not aired yet) please note them in the comments and I’ll update the table.

Notes:

Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below

I’ve seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I’m only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.

Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.

Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what’s been renewed, what’s been canceled, and what shows fates haven’t been decided yet.

Yes, I know there will be a Doctor Whostill has the remainder of season 7 to air and that there will be an anniversary episode, but as far as an 8th season goes, there’s still no official announcement.

Last Updated January 15, 2013

Most of the shows on the list have statuses – if there isn’t a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).